Shifter Mate Magic

by Carol Van Natta

  Jackie slid herself around Trevor to stand in front of him and sent her magical senses out to see what Roehm was reaching for. “Roehm’s got a lightning charm,” she shouted.

  Pendragor’s eyes narrowed as he wielded his slender wand like he was conducting an orchestra. Power surged. Roehm’s screaming turned to screeches of agony as five places on his clothes burst into unnatural green flame, then exploded with fireworks. He twirled in a mad dance, trying to get away from the sparks.

  “Oh, do cease the melodrama, Alpha Roehm.” Guivre’s expression was neutral, but her tone was peevish. “We all know your burns will heal in minutes.”

  Instead of answering, Roehm launched himself toward Jackie, tearing out of his clothes in a half-shift to give himself muscles, claws, and teeth. Even as she dropped to the ground in a ball to protect herself and her child, Trevor full-shifted in a heartbeat and launched out of the chalk circle to meet Roehm head-on.

  Roehm’s body bounced off Trevor’s huge bear as if he’d hit a wall. He rolled away and finished shifting, but the enraged bear was right there with twenty-inch claws that ripped into the lion’s soft underbelly.

  The lion scrambled up and leapt onto the much larger bear’s back, biting down and sinking claws into the bear’s heavily shaggy fur. The bear stood upright and shook, throwing the lion off. In a blur of motion, the bear spun and dropped his front body weight, landing heavy paws on the lion’s back. Everyone heard the sickening crack as the lion’s spine snapped.

  Incredibly, the lion pulled itself around using its front paws and sank sharp teeth into the meaty part of the bear’s back leg. The bear turned and bit the lion’s flattened ear, but the lion clamped its jaws tighter. The bear tried again, but only succeeded in dragging the lion’s weight around in a circle.

  Jackie remembered a tactic from one of the many fights she’d seen on Roehm’s compound. She rolled and sat up. “Trevor,” she shouted, “your human leg is smaller!”

  The bear made a throaty sound and became a man in jeans. Before the surprised lion could react, Trevor pried the lion’s jaws open enough to free his bleeding thigh. Trevor limped backward, never taking his eyes off the lion.

  “Do what you did to the coyotes,” she yelled.

  Trevor nodded, then shot a questioning glance toward Guivre. The golden elf nodded. Trevor squared his shoulders and turned to stare at Roehm.

  Everyone with any magical senses at all felt the full, raw strength of Trevor’s alpha command. As before in the alley, it washed over and through her like a soothing wave and had no effect on her unborn daughter.

  Roehm fought the command with his own alpha power, but in less than fifteen seconds, he was nakedly human and lying on the tarp, legs inert, and bleeding from four lacerations on his stomach.

  “Fine,” croaked Roehm, “you can have the skank.” His voice was weaker than she’d ever heard it. “But everything she has, she stole from us, and we want it back.” He growled as he raised himself up on his elbows. “She has to pay for what she did to Ruben.”

  Jackie awkwardly climbed to her feet and brushed the dust off her pants. She looked at Roehm’s pride members, who were showing varying degrees of fear and disbelief. They’d never seen Roehm bested at anything. They looked just like the board of one of her megachurch clients when she’d told them they’d been conned by their minister in a Ponzi scheme. Some of them refused to believe it, even when the minister and his wife pled guilty and were sentenced to a dozen years in prison.

  Jackie put one foot on the tarp and raised her hand, uncertain of the protocol. “Uhm, excuse me? Am I allowed to tell my side?” Thanks to the elven magic, her soft voice carried.

  Roehm’s right leg twitched, meaning his shifter healing was already repairing his spine and nervous system. “Are you going to take the word of a human?” He made it sound like she was mess to be scraped off his boots.

  Jackie was used to it, but she was tired of it. Tired of being hated for the color of her skin, or her gender, or her magic, or her achievements, or her humanity. She’d been guilty of prejudice, too, in thinking Barry Wills, a lying leopard, and Roehm, a twisted sociopath lion, were typical shifters. The young lynx-shifter guards looked out for each other and some of the others against Roehm. She’d seen compassion and caring in the rough-around-the edges coyotes, and Trevor… she wanted to hitch her wagon to his star and follow him wherever he wanted to go. Preferably the nearest bed.

  She waved to get the attention of the wand-wielding fairy, who casually leaned against the council’s table. “Master Pendragor, compel me to tell the truth and ask me what happened and what I stole.” She put her hands protectively over her stomach. “As long as it won’t hurt my child.”

  Guivre glided around the table and onto the tarp, taking in the crowd with a sweep of her eyes. Her gaze lingered on Roehm’s pride and Roehm himself, before finally lighting on Jackie with a long, assessing look. “It shall be as you have asked. I suspect this tale needs a more comfortable setting.”

  “If we don’t invite Florinel Brooker to observe,” said Pendragor, deftly twirling his now shiny wand like it was a miniature cheerleader’s baton, “we’ll never hear the end of it.”

  Guivre looked annoyed, then sighed. “You’re right, of course.” She waved a finger toward Roehm. “Besides, he will need time to heal and collect his pride.”

  Jackie cleared her throat. “Sorry if I’m out of line again, but could someone look at Trevor’s leg?” Blood had thoroughly soaked the leg of his jeans. She wished she had one of her mother’s magical healing poultices in her back pocket. If he was anything like the felines in the pride, he’d heal the battle wounds in a day, but it would be less painful if the lacerations were clean.

  Trevor waved off her concern. “I’ll be fine.” He glanced at Pendragor, then turned and nodded respectfully at Guivre. “Can Jackie and her child get sanctuary, or at least a guest invitation until the hearing?”

  Guivre crossed to behind the table to hold a whispered conversation with the council members.

  Pendragor sat casually on the edge of the table and whistled. The seemingly careless tune had subtle power in every note. In other circumstances, Jackie would have loved to ask what the magic did.

  Roehm began dragging himself along the tarp, toward his pride. Jackie felt the telepathic command he sent to his enforcers. Two cougars stepped onto the tarp and lifted him by his shoulders. Jackie had never been able to hear his orders. She’d assumed it was because she wasn’t a true member of the pride, but maybe her humanity got in the way. Not that she wanted to listen to anything Roehm had to say, but maybe it meant she wouldn’t be a good mate for Trevor.

  The thought stunned her. Was she really thinking of mating with him? Surely, she just had a case of animal… okay, shifter lust. And there would be no lust-indulging that night, not with Trevor’s leg still healing.

  Her back hurt, and the brim of her borrowed ball cap dripped with sweat. She felt like a tiny paper boat caught in the middle of a fast-running river. She was determined to do what was best for her daughter, but now she had Trevor to worry about, too.

  Trevor glanced at the whispering council members, then limped toward her. The second he stepped into the chalk circle, she wrapped him in her arms. She drew in the scent and warmth of him while she could.

  He seemed to sense her worry, and gently cradled her head against his chest. “We’ll be okay,” he murmured, then kissed her forehead. “Really.”

  “Maybe.” She pulled back to look at the man who was becoming the center of her dreams and fantasies. “You humiliated Roehm. Now he wants to kill you, too.”

  “Yeah, but it was worth it.” The corners of his mouth twitched with a smile. “Thanks for the coaching, Alpha Fight Master.”

  Jackie rolled her eyes. “I’m serious. When they were handing out honor, Roehm was sneaking in the back window, stealing extra helpings of greed and treachery.”

  Trevor drew breath to speak, but was interrupted by Guivre c
learing her throat.

  “The council grants permanent sanctuary to Trevor Hammond, should he still wish it. The council grants temporary sanctuary to Jacqueline Breton and her child, with full glade protection.” Guivre’s dry recitation gave no hint of her personal opinion in the matter. She turned to meet Pendragor’s eyes with a long, meaningful look. Telepathy, Jackie guessed.

  The lavender-skinned fairy nodded, then stood up from his slouch and turned sharp eyes to a scowling Roehm. Two of his guards were holding him up since his legs still didn’t work.

  “Alpha Roehm, these are the terms. Six days from now, at noon, the full town council will hear your claim against Jacqueline Breton. We will grant passage for you and your pride on that day, but none of you may stay on our lands in the interim.”

  One of Roehm’s enforcers growled that he’d stay wherever he wanted, but another elbowed him sharply and pointed to the sky, where the afternoon sun blazed through wispy clouds. “They have dragons, you moron.”

  Pendragor smiled without humor. “We do, indeed.”

  “Six days is too long,” growled Roehm. “She could find some human hidey-hole and disappear.”

  Jackie found herself the center of attention. She started to speak, then remembered to put a foot on the tarp so she could be heard. “Six days is fine with me. I promise I’ll stay.” She crossed her arms.

  Before Roehm could react, Pendragor pointed his wand at her foot, and power surged. “Your word is your bond.” An invisible weight settled around her ankle. It felt like a tracking spell. She nodded and stepped back. Trevor moved to stand behind her and rest his hands on her shoulders.

  A crafty look passed over Roehm’s face. “I demand you impound everything she’s got. It’s evidence.”

  Jackie sent a disdainful look toward Roehm’s naked, filthy, slack body. “I don’t think my maternity pants will fit you.”

  Trevor snorted behind her, and the crowd laughed. Even the wyvern chuckled.

  “I think not,” said Guivre, with a small smile. She waved fingers in obvious dismissal. “Leave within the hour or feed our dragons. Come back in six days or forfeit.” Her tone said she didn’t care one way or the other.

  She turned her back on him and walked back around the table toward the wyvern. “Scholar, a word?”

  Roehm swore a blue streak as his guards turned with him and headed toward the haphazard circle of decidedly worse-for-wear vehicles. Jackie felt sorry for the members of his pride, because once he healed, they’d likely be his punching bags.

  Pendragor crossed toward Jackie and Trevor. As he did so, he pointed his wand toward the tarp and whistled three notes. The magic vanished so suddenly it made Jackie’s ears pop.

  Up close, Pendragor seemed both more and less human. His flowing poet’s shirt revealed a chiseled, toned chest, worthy of being a cover model, but his variegated purple and gold hair turned out to be very fine feathers, and his eyes had an avian shape. She had never seen a fairy like him.

  He waved toward her ankle, where the tracking spell still tingled. “You may go anywhere in the glade. I’ll introduce you to Shiloh, the deputy sheriff, so he can look out for you.” She thought she heard hints of a Russian accent in his musical voice. He gave her a wide smile. “You’ll like him.”

  Behind her, Trevor rumbled, then coughed.

  Pendragor laughed and looked up at Trevor. “You’ll like him, too. He’s very happily mated.”

  She turned to look at Trevor in time to catch him blushing. She had to admit to being secretly flattered he was jealous and trying to hide it. Outside of the shifter-mate potential thing, men had rarely been interested in her for more than a casual good time, and she didn’t do casual.

  “Mr. Hammond,” said Pendragor, “I am pleased to welcome you to Kotoyeesinay. The glade’s border will be instructed to admit you.” His tone sounded more formal than before.

  “Call me Trevor. Glad to be here, and thanks. That magic barrier packs a whallop.” He squeezed her shoulders briefly. “I forgot to warn Jackie about it.”

  Jackie shuddered at the memory. “Felt like being strapped naked to an exam table.”

  “Apologies.” Pendragor shook his head. “The border was fine until they built the casino. Their security team added a complex set of spells to let the tourists in, and discourage the rest, while letting magical people and those in need in, but warn us about those with ill intent. It’s been a mess ever since. I’m trying to get it fixed.”

  From out of a pocket that his form-fitting black pants should have been entirely too tight to have, Pendragor produced what looked like a tree-shaped trinket on a keychain and held it out to Trevor. “This charm is for your truck, so you can access the shortcut to town. I think you could find load-hauling customers here.”

  Trevor smiled as he took the keychain. “That will definitely come in handy.”

  Jackie realized she’d completely and selfishly forgotten that Trevor had upended his life and business just to bring her to safety. She turned to face him. “You need to get your trailer in Nebraska and deliver your load of furniture. Billings, wasn’t it?”

  A stubborn look settled on his face. “I’m not leaving until the hearing.”

  She crossed her arms and gave him her best stubborn look back. “Oh, yes, you are. I’m safe here until then, and it’s bad for your bottom line to piss off your customers.”

  “It’s my…” He trailed off, then blew out a noisy breath. A flurry of emotions flitted across his face, too fast for her to read them. “You’re right. But I’m not leaving until I meet this sheriff guy, and not at all if I don’t trust him.”

  She nodded. “Deal.” She reached out and took his hand, lacing her fingers through his, then turned to Pendragor. “Would you please introduce us to Deputy Sheriff Shiloh?”

  6

  The hardest thing Trevor had ever done in his life was leave Jackie in Kotoyeesinay. It helped that Deputy Sheriff Shiloh, a coyote shifter with permanently pointed teeth, turned out to be competent, garrulous, and true-mated to a suave jaguar shifter named Matteo. Despite her multiple assurances that she would be fine, he didn’t like it. His bear shredded him from the inside for not staying to protect her.

  He used his shifter strength to stay awake in the night and make record time to Nebraska. Along the way, he faced up to his own fears that she wouldn’t be there when he got back. To be brutally honest with himself, he had precious little to offer her, not even a home to share. Despite their white-hot attraction, she didn’t feel the mate bond the way he did. She also had a baby to worry about.

  Some of that he could remedy. He went over on his cellular phone minutes to call her each night. The sound of her voice and her amusement with the quirky residents of Kotoyeesinay helped keep him sane. He called in favors and made arrangements that would help Jackie and her child, even if she closed her heart to him for being just another shifter who might hurt her. He’d promised he’d do everything so Jackie could keep her daughter, and he planned to deliver.

  The morning of the sixth day found him trying to break land speed records for a big rig, barreling hot through the Kotoyeesinay border and racing into town to the high school, where the hearing would be held.

  He spotted her immediately, waiting for him in the shade of the roof’s overhang at the loading dock, where she’d arranged for him to park his truck. The need to touch and smell her had him scrambling out of his cab and into her open arms.

  “I missed you.” He nuzzled into her neck and drew in the scent of her. His sour, grumpy bear sighed inside him with pleasure.

  “Right back at you, cowboy.” She sighed and tightened her arms around his waist.

  He nibbled his way along her jaw until he found her lips and lost himself in the taste of her. He slid his hands down to rhythmically caress the beautiful globes of her butt.

  She surfaced for air and backed up a little. “Much as I want more of this,” she said, palming the side of his face, “we shouldn’t give the kids something
to try at home, if you catch my drift.”

  Her radiant smile made him want to lick every inch of her, but he definitely didn’t want an audience for that.

  He belatedly noticed she was wearing a nice jacket and blouse, and his nuzzling had mussed part of her contained hairstyle. He straightened her jacket and smoothed down her springy hair with his thumb. “Sorry.”

  She laughed. “I’ll fix it when we go in.” She pointed toward the propped-open side door. “Shiloh is waiting to show us to the gym instead of the auditorium, because apparently”—she rolled her eyes—“everyone in Kotoyeesinay is in there.”

  “What about Roehm?”

  She nodded. “Shiloh said Roehm called up the rest of the pride, so the council had to give them a section of the bleachers.”

  “The dude doesn’t do subtle, does he?” He made a rude sound. “Asshole.”

  “And then some,” agreed Jackie. “Let’s go in. We’ve got a few minutes before the hearing starts, and I have news.”

  She led him to a small classroom that had been set aside for them. The only decent places to sit were the teacher’s desk and chair. Trevor took the chair, then pulled her willingly into his lap. He didn’t even care if she noticed his body’s ready response to her when she settled against his chest.

  “News?” he asked, to distract himself from the temptation to start something they definitely couldn’t finish in a rolling chair.

  “Shiloh’s mate, Matteo, isn’t just a lawyer, he’s a high-rate corporate lawyer on retainer to the Shifter Tribunal. He tracked down my ex. His real name is Barry Williken, of the Hamptons Willikens. Very old shifter pride, very rich, very conservative. Barry is the son of the pride leader. They have marriage alliance plans for him that don’t include humans.”

  Trevor frowned. “What about you and your daughter?”

  “Matteo got Barry and the pride to sign a blood oath give up any and all claims to me or Princess.” She smiled. “Seems Barry was supposed to be lying low in Houston, not knocking up his human girlfriend and losing big in Las Vegas. According to Matteo, the scandal would have shattered the business deal. Oh, excuse me, the wedding.”